Rep. Al Green (D., Texas) continued his annual tradition of getting escorted off of the House floor during a State of the Union address by President Donald Trump.
Green, who is poised to lose renomination in his party’s primary next week, was taken off the floor after he displayed a sign reading that “black people aren’t apes.”
Green’s actions, widely derided as a publicity stunt, received immediate condemnation. Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.), the House GOP’s Majority Leader, told the Washington Reporter that “decorum matters, especially during one of the most important proceedings in our system of government.”
“During the State of the Union, there is no place for breaking House rules or showing disrespect to the President of the United States,” Scalise added; his forceful condemnation of Green was first covered by the Reporter. “The president is invited to address Congress, and members owe it to the constituents they represent to uphold the dignity of that moment.”
After Green’s ejection, he compared his ejection from the House floor to the actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. “The consequences were of no consequence to me,” Green said. “You have to take a stand.”
